All text files appear corrupted











up vote
0
down vote

favorite












Opening all documents I've checked so far results in a jumbled mess of characters as shown in the screenshot below (I would copy and paste, but that has also stopped working)
screenshot



Onedrive backup set up for all of the documents. However strangely enough when I check the files on onedrive they appear file (they're definitely sync'd). Also when I download the files from onedrive to try and replace the corrupted ones on the computer, then they also appear corrupted. It's as if something has taken over how the user reads files and is scrambling it when it's opened.



I've run a malwarebytes scan, I'm unsure what else to do though. Any advice would be appreciated.










share|improve this question






















  • To confirm, is this affecting all documents, or only OneDrive?
    – DontCopyThatFloppy
    Nov 27 at 17:24










  • Scratch that, onedrive files now appear to be affected too as well as those on the computer
    – George Appleton
    Nov 27 at 17:24












  • Are the file names corrupted as well? This could help narrow down what/if crypto malware is involved.
    – DontCopyThatFloppy
    Nov 27 at 17:27










  • No the file names are fine
    – George Appleton
    Nov 27 at 17:33















up vote
0
down vote

favorite












Opening all documents I've checked so far results in a jumbled mess of characters as shown in the screenshot below (I would copy and paste, but that has also stopped working)
screenshot



Onedrive backup set up for all of the documents. However strangely enough when I check the files on onedrive they appear file (they're definitely sync'd). Also when I download the files from onedrive to try and replace the corrupted ones on the computer, then they also appear corrupted. It's as if something has taken over how the user reads files and is scrambling it when it's opened.



I've run a malwarebytes scan, I'm unsure what else to do though. Any advice would be appreciated.










share|improve this question






















  • To confirm, is this affecting all documents, or only OneDrive?
    – DontCopyThatFloppy
    Nov 27 at 17:24










  • Scratch that, onedrive files now appear to be affected too as well as those on the computer
    – George Appleton
    Nov 27 at 17:24












  • Are the file names corrupted as well? This could help narrow down what/if crypto malware is involved.
    – DontCopyThatFloppy
    Nov 27 at 17:27










  • No the file names are fine
    – George Appleton
    Nov 27 at 17:33













up vote
0
down vote

favorite









up vote
0
down vote

favorite











Opening all documents I've checked so far results in a jumbled mess of characters as shown in the screenshot below (I would copy and paste, but that has also stopped working)
screenshot



Onedrive backup set up for all of the documents. However strangely enough when I check the files on onedrive they appear file (they're definitely sync'd). Also when I download the files from onedrive to try and replace the corrupted ones on the computer, then they also appear corrupted. It's as if something has taken over how the user reads files and is scrambling it when it's opened.



I've run a malwarebytes scan, I'm unsure what else to do though. Any advice would be appreciated.










share|improve this question













Opening all documents I've checked so far results in a jumbled mess of characters as shown in the screenshot below (I would copy and paste, but that has also stopped working)
screenshot



Onedrive backup set up for all of the documents. However strangely enough when I check the files on onedrive they appear file (they're definitely sync'd). Also when I download the files from onedrive to try and replace the corrupted ones on the computer, then they also appear corrupted. It's as if something has taken over how the user reads files and is scrambling it when it's opened.



I've run a malwarebytes scan, I'm unsure what else to do though. Any advice would be appreciated.







windows-10 file-corruption






share|improve this question













share|improve this question











share|improve this question




share|improve this question










asked Nov 27 at 17:21









George Appleton

1032




1032












  • To confirm, is this affecting all documents, or only OneDrive?
    – DontCopyThatFloppy
    Nov 27 at 17:24










  • Scratch that, onedrive files now appear to be affected too as well as those on the computer
    – George Appleton
    Nov 27 at 17:24












  • Are the file names corrupted as well? This could help narrow down what/if crypto malware is involved.
    – DontCopyThatFloppy
    Nov 27 at 17:27










  • No the file names are fine
    – George Appleton
    Nov 27 at 17:33


















  • To confirm, is this affecting all documents, or only OneDrive?
    – DontCopyThatFloppy
    Nov 27 at 17:24










  • Scratch that, onedrive files now appear to be affected too as well as those on the computer
    – George Appleton
    Nov 27 at 17:24












  • Are the file names corrupted as well? This could help narrow down what/if crypto malware is involved.
    – DontCopyThatFloppy
    Nov 27 at 17:27










  • No the file names are fine
    – George Appleton
    Nov 27 at 17:33
















To confirm, is this affecting all documents, or only OneDrive?
– DontCopyThatFloppy
Nov 27 at 17:24




To confirm, is this affecting all documents, or only OneDrive?
– DontCopyThatFloppy
Nov 27 at 17:24












Scratch that, onedrive files now appear to be affected too as well as those on the computer
– George Appleton
Nov 27 at 17:24






Scratch that, onedrive files now appear to be affected too as well as those on the computer
– George Appleton
Nov 27 at 17:24














Are the file names corrupted as well? This could help narrow down what/if crypto malware is involved.
– DontCopyThatFloppy
Nov 27 at 17:27




Are the file names corrupted as well? This could help narrow down what/if crypto malware is involved.
– DontCopyThatFloppy
Nov 27 at 17:27












No the file names are fine
– George Appleton
Nov 27 at 17:33




No the file names are fine
– George Appleton
Nov 27 at 17:33










1 Answer
1






active

oldest

votes

















up vote
0
down vote



accepted










This appears to be some type of crypto malware at first glance. There are methods of removal and recovery available, but there are many variants of such malware. I would suggest to stop using your computer immediately and have the hard drive serviced by an experienced IT repair professional.



You may be able to recover older versions of your files in OneDrive that are not corrupted following these steps provided by Microsoft.






share|improve this answer























  • Thanks I'll have a look through those steps
    – George Appleton
    Nov 27 at 17:27






  • 1




    I don't believe it was malware, I think onedrive did something weird to the files because it couldn't understand the format. Restoring the files from point in time sorted out the encryption, and copy and paste started working after a restart.
    – George Appleton
    Nov 27 at 17:56










  • Bizarre. I have not run into OneDrive file corruption in some time. Please reopen your question if it does reoccur.
    – DontCopyThatFloppy
    Nov 28 at 19:35











Your Answer








StackExchange.ready(function() {
var channelOptions = {
tags: "".split(" "),
id: "3"
};
initTagRenderer("".split(" "), "".split(" "), channelOptions);

StackExchange.using("externalEditor", function() {
// Have to fire editor after snippets, if snippets enabled
if (StackExchange.settings.snippets.snippetsEnabled) {
StackExchange.using("snippets", function() {
createEditor();
});
}
else {
createEditor();
}
});

function createEditor() {
StackExchange.prepareEditor({
heartbeatType: 'answer',
convertImagesToLinks: true,
noModals: true,
showLowRepImageUploadWarning: true,
reputationToPostImages: 10,
bindNavPrevention: true,
postfix: "",
imageUploader: {
brandingHtml: "Powered by u003ca class="icon-imgur-white" href="https://imgur.com/"u003eu003c/au003e",
contentPolicyHtml: "User contributions licensed under u003ca href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/"u003ecc by-sa 3.0 with attribution requiredu003c/au003e u003ca href="https://stackoverflow.com/legal/content-policy"u003e(content policy)u003c/au003e",
allowUrls: true
},
onDemand: true,
discardSelector: ".discard-answer"
,immediatelyShowMarkdownHelp:true
});


}
});














draft saved

draft discarded


















StackExchange.ready(
function () {
StackExchange.openid.initPostLogin('.new-post-login', 'https%3a%2f%2fsuperuser.com%2fquestions%2f1378835%2fall-text-files-appear-corrupted%23new-answer', 'question_page');
}
);

Post as a guest















Required, but never shown

























1 Answer
1






active

oldest

votes








1 Answer
1






active

oldest

votes









active

oldest

votes






active

oldest

votes








up vote
0
down vote



accepted










This appears to be some type of crypto malware at first glance. There are methods of removal and recovery available, but there are many variants of such malware. I would suggest to stop using your computer immediately and have the hard drive serviced by an experienced IT repair professional.



You may be able to recover older versions of your files in OneDrive that are not corrupted following these steps provided by Microsoft.






share|improve this answer























  • Thanks I'll have a look through those steps
    – George Appleton
    Nov 27 at 17:27






  • 1




    I don't believe it was malware, I think onedrive did something weird to the files because it couldn't understand the format. Restoring the files from point in time sorted out the encryption, and copy and paste started working after a restart.
    – George Appleton
    Nov 27 at 17:56










  • Bizarre. I have not run into OneDrive file corruption in some time. Please reopen your question if it does reoccur.
    – DontCopyThatFloppy
    Nov 28 at 19:35















up vote
0
down vote



accepted










This appears to be some type of crypto malware at first glance. There are methods of removal and recovery available, but there are many variants of such malware. I would suggest to stop using your computer immediately and have the hard drive serviced by an experienced IT repair professional.



You may be able to recover older versions of your files in OneDrive that are not corrupted following these steps provided by Microsoft.






share|improve this answer























  • Thanks I'll have a look through those steps
    – George Appleton
    Nov 27 at 17:27






  • 1




    I don't believe it was malware, I think onedrive did something weird to the files because it couldn't understand the format. Restoring the files from point in time sorted out the encryption, and copy and paste started working after a restart.
    – George Appleton
    Nov 27 at 17:56










  • Bizarre. I have not run into OneDrive file corruption in some time. Please reopen your question if it does reoccur.
    – DontCopyThatFloppy
    Nov 28 at 19:35













up vote
0
down vote



accepted







up vote
0
down vote



accepted






This appears to be some type of crypto malware at first glance. There are methods of removal and recovery available, but there are many variants of such malware. I would suggest to stop using your computer immediately and have the hard drive serviced by an experienced IT repair professional.



You may be able to recover older versions of your files in OneDrive that are not corrupted following these steps provided by Microsoft.






share|improve this answer














This appears to be some type of crypto malware at first glance. There are methods of removal and recovery available, but there are many variants of such malware. I would suggest to stop using your computer immediately and have the hard drive serviced by an experienced IT repair professional.



You may be able to recover older versions of your files in OneDrive that are not corrupted following these steps provided by Microsoft.







share|improve this answer














share|improve this answer



share|improve this answer








edited Nov 27 at 17:27

























answered Nov 27 at 17:23









DontCopyThatFloppy

1147




1147












  • Thanks I'll have a look through those steps
    – George Appleton
    Nov 27 at 17:27






  • 1




    I don't believe it was malware, I think onedrive did something weird to the files because it couldn't understand the format. Restoring the files from point in time sorted out the encryption, and copy and paste started working after a restart.
    – George Appleton
    Nov 27 at 17:56










  • Bizarre. I have not run into OneDrive file corruption in some time. Please reopen your question if it does reoccur.
    – DontCopyThatFloppy
    Nov 28 at 19:35


















  • Thanks I'll have a look through those steps
    – George Appleton
    Nov 27 at 17:27






  • 1




    I don't believe it was malware, I think onedrive did something weird to the files because it couldn't understand the format. Restoring the files from point in time sorted out the encryption, and copy and paste started working after a restart.
    – George Appleton
    Nov 27 at 17:56










  • Bizarre. I have not run into OneDrive file corruption in some time. Please reopen your question if it does reoccur.
    – DontCopyThatFloppy
    Nov 28 at 19:35
















Thanks I'll have a look through those steps
– George Appleton
Nov 27 at 17:27




Thanks I'll have a look through those steps
– George Appleton
Nov 27 at 17:27




1




1




I don't believe it was malware, I think onedrive did something weird to the files because it couldn't understand the format. Restoring the files from point in time sorted out the encryption, and copy and paste started working after a restart.
– George Appleton
Nov 27 at 17:56




I don't believe it was malware, I think onedrive did something weird to the files because it couldn't understand the format. Restoring the files from point in time sorted out the encryption, and copy and paste started working after a restart.
– George Appleton
Nov 27 at 17:56












Bizarre. I have not run into OneDrive file corruption in some time. Please reopen your question if it does reoccur.
– DontCopyThatFloppy
Nov 28 at 19:35




Bizarre. I have not run into OneDrive file corruption in some time. Please reopen your question if it does reoccur.
– DontCopyThatFloppy
Nov 28 at 19:35


















draft saved

draft discarded




















































Thanks for contributing an answer to Super User!


  • Please be sure to answer the question. Provide details and share your research!

But avoid



  • Asking for help, clarification, or responding to other answers.

  • Making statements based on opinion; back them up with references or personal experience.


To learn more, see our tips on writing great answers.





Some of your past answers have not been well-received, and you're in danger of being blocked from answering.


Please pay close attention to the following guidance:


  • Please be sure to answer the question. Provide details and share your research!

But avoid



  • Asking for help, clarification, or responding to other answers.

  • Making statements based on opinion; back them up with references or personal experience.


To learn more, see our tips on writing great answers.




draft saved


draft discarded














StackExchange.ready(
function () {
StackExchange.openid.initPostLogin('.new-post-login', 'https%3a%2f%2fsuperuser.com%2fquestions%2f1378835%2fall-text-files-appear-corrupted%23new-answer', 'question_page');
}
);

Post as a guest















Required, but never shown





















































Required, but never shown














Required, but never shown












Required, but never shown







Required, but never shown

































Required, but never shown














Required, but never shown












Required, but never shown







Required, but never shown







Popular posts from this blog

Plaza Victoria

Puebla de Zaragoza

Musa